Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/668

648 outer resting on simple pilasters or columns, and on either side rises an additional pilaster to the cornice, which seldom extends unbroken along the tower. Frequently only one corner is finished with a plain two-story tower, provided with arched windows and a dome. The whole bears a stamp of the utmost simplicity. In the cities a tower can be seen at each corner, with a large dome in the centre, somewhat defaced by tasteless painting. The clustered columns of the interior are fluted Doric, with heavy chaptrels, and here also the balustrade forms a prominent feature.

Among Mexican architects, the only creole of real prominence is Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, born at Celaya in 1745, who has left monuments of his skill and taste in temples, theatres, bridges, and other public structures, and who showed proficiency also in sculpture and painting. He died in 1833.

The Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, which political commotions had allowed to languish, was revived on the 6th of January, 1847, with such happy results that the first exhibitions of the pupils' works took place in 1849, a number of the latter showing a marked excellence. After Mexico went into the throes of revolution, in which even the life of her republican institutions was imperilled, her people could have no thought but for war, and the academy went to decay again since 1858. Its name was changed in 1868 to Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, and a new impulse was given to the development of fine arts. The collection of paintings, sculpture, and engravings became large and precious. Since 1861 it has comprised the best works found in the convents.